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Geology site description:

The Burgess shale is famous for its unique fossils from the Cambrianperiod. It is exception that the soft parts of organisms have been preserved. Many fossils look ttaly unfamiliar to known fossils from other locations. In 1909 this location was discovered by Charles Doolittle Walcott.

The shales were deposited in a deepsea environment in the Cambrianperiod. At the foot of an underwater cliff regular mudflows covered all present life. This proces repeated itself numerous times, resulting in a thick shaleformation with many fossils. The absence of oxygen resulted in the exeptional preservation of the soft parts.